Of Nakama and Chocolate Chip Cookies
by Digitaldreamer
Summary: The Straw Hats have faced many perils, but can they face the challenge of baking a simple batch of chocolate chip cookies? Or will these delicious chocolatey goods be their undoing? [No pairings, just nakamaship]


**-Of Nakama and Chocolate Chip Cookies-**

**A One Piece fanfic by Digitaldreamer**

_Okay, so for computer art, our job was to write a story and do all this crazy formatting stuff with it in Word. We had to do a lot of stuff with it, like put tables in it and have all the tabs set right and have symbols in it and stuff…but overall, it was just supposed to be a story._

_Of course, me being me, I decided to write a quick One Piece story. It got a bit….long, but I think it turned out rather well. I figured I may as well stick it here for you guys to read. _

_Of course, there are no pairings in this one, as it's meant for my art teacher to read. There's also a few explanations as to who everyone is and such…because otherwise she would have no idea what's going on…other than that, it's my usual crazy work…except without all the oodles of angst._

_Reviews are greatly appreciated!_

_Also, be warned, this hasn't been beta read, and the spellcheck at school is really crappy! I apologize in advance for any mistakes!_

_---_

Monkey D. Luffy could not cook. He was a feared pirate upon the Grand Line, known throughout the world for his amazing deeds that really were not all that horrible. He had defeated countless villains upon the seas though he was only seventeen, and the rumors that claimed he had eaten a fruit that gave his body the ability to stretch like rubber were in fact, true.

Indeed, Luffy had many talents, but he could not cook.

This was a known fact, and anyone who did not know this did not take long to learn it. His crew, for instance, learned quite fast after the "noodle" incident, which had resulted in a lifelong ban from the island of Fuji as well as a promise that the boy would never allowed near any kitchen utensil ever again.

And it was because of this memory that the following incident happened as it did.

Oh, the day had started out normally enough. Just an ordinary day on the Going Merry, their pirate ship. Another day out at sea with no land in sight, which was probably why the crew had been so bored.

It had been around midday when everyone had been hanging out on the main deck. Nami, the navigator of the ship, was sitting out with her newspaper, while Sanji, the cook, stood beside her to offer a drink. Usopp, the sniper, was propped against one of the rails as he sketched a picture of their pirate flag. Meanwhile, Zoro was sprawled out right in the middle of the deck, fast asleep with his three katana placed beside him. Things were, for the most part, peaceful and rather unexciting.

Then Luffy suddenly spoke from his place at the very front of the ship.

"I'm hungry."

Sanji made a face, glancing from his glorious Nami-san to their childish captain. "I've already fed you today, I'm not making you anything else."

Luffy turned towards them, a wide grin on his face. "Oh, that's okay! I'll make it myself!" With that, he hopped up and started towards the kitchen.

There was silence for a few seconds.

"YOU STAY AWAY FROM MY KITCHEN!"

"DON'T YOU _DARE_!"

"YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENED LAST TIME!"

Luffy stood there for a moment, absorbing the sudden explosion before pouting. "But I wanna make cookies!"

Usopp shook his head. "Luffy, you remember _last_ time you tried to cook? The 'noodle incident'?"

Everyone shuddered at the memory. Even Zoro did, and he was still asleep.

The rubber pirate stared blankly at everyone for a moment before shrugging. "So?"

"_So_," Sanji hissed, "Let's prevent a recap of that incident, and you stay away from my kitchen! I have it all neat and organized, and even if you attempting to make something _didn't_ kill us, you'd mess that all up! I need everything to be organized so I can make glorious dishes for Nami-san!"

"But I wanna make cookies!" Luffy whined.

"NO!"

"Oi, what're you all yelling about?" Zoro suddenly spoke up, rising from his spot on deck and cracking his neck. "I'm _trying_ to sleep here." He grumbled irritably.

"You're always trying to sleep, it's not like missing a few minutes would kill you." Usopp muttered under his breath. The swordsman shot him a glare and the long-nosed sniper yelped before ducking behind Nami's chair. He preferred to have something solid between himself and Zoro's wrath.

"I wanna make cookies, but they won't let me!" Luffy whined.

"He'd kill us all! You remember the noodle incident!" Nami exclaimed.

"He's not touching my kitchen! He's lucky we even let him set foot in there!" Sanji declared.

"You always say that to me, but _I _don't listen to you." Zoro pointed out.

"Shut up, algaehead." The cook snapped.

"_You_ shut up, Love Cook." Zoro spat in response.

"I WANNA MAKE COOKIES!" Luffy yelled, stopping their argument.

Zoro quirked a brow at this, crossing his arms and staring at Luffy for a moment. The boy looked up at him with large, hopeful eyes. After a few moments the swordsman finally sighed, looking away. "Fine, whatever, go make your stupid cookies. Just stop yelling, you're giving me a headache."

"YOSH!" Luffy cheered, punching his fists into the air before rushing to the kitchen.

"WHAT? NO!" Nami cried, the other crew members proceeding with similar responses.

"Who gave _you_ the right to tell him if he could anyway?" Sanji demanded.

Zoro shrugged. "Look, if you're so worried that we'll suffer another 'noodle incident', you guys can go in there and help him."

"What?" Nami shrieked.

"You heard me. Go help him. It's not like you guys have anything better to do anyway." Zoro pointed out.

The other three members of the crew proceeded to give rather weak excuses as to why they couldn't do this, but they were all cut off by a long BANG coming from the kitchen.

All four crewmembers looked at each other.

Nami groaned. "Well…either; we help him make cookies, or he ends up destroying something and sinks us all…"

Silence for a few beats…

"LUFFY, DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING!" Sanji yelled as he charged towards the kitchen.

"L-LUFFY, WAIT FOR CAPTAIN USOPP-SAMA! YOU WANT HIS HELP, DON'T YOU?"

Zoro watched the two run away and smirked. Well, now that the mess had been taken care of, maybe he could get some sleep.

Nami reached out to snatch the earrings on Zoro's left ear, electing a cry from the swordsman. "Uh uh. If we're all stuck making cookies, you're helping too." She declared before hauling him towards the kitchen, pointedly ignoring his protests.

They stepped into the kitchen to see Luffy, Sanji, and Usopp all gathered around the table, Luffy and Usopp both glancing over a cook book. Sanji was placing the ingrediants on the table. How Luffy had become covered with flour in such a short span of time was anyone's guess.

Luffy frowned as he looked at the instructions, scratching his head. Finally, after a few moments he handed the book to Usopp. "Here, I can't read."

"Ah, of course! I, the great Usopp-sama, shall read the instructions, as I am a master of cooking!" Usopp declared.

"Liar, I've seen your cooking, it could scare away small children."

Usopp pointedly ignored Sanji's comment as he began reading off the instructions. "Right, let's see here…we need…

1- 2 ½ cups of flour 1 tsp baking soda ½ tsp salt

1 cup sugar1 tbsp vanilla extract 2 cup chocolate chips

"What's a tbsp?" Luffy inquired, brow furrowing in confusion.

Usopp shrugged. "Beats me. Sounds like some kind of bug."

Luffy made a face at this. "Bugs? We're supposed to put bugs in the cookies?"

Apparently forgetting he had just stated that he had no idea what a 'tbsp' was, Usopp nodded sagely. "Of course! Why, I was the one who discovered 'tbsps' taste so good when I was adventuring through the jungles!"

"REALLY?" Luffy gasped, eyes wide with amazement.

"Yeah! And uh, I spread my knowledge of this amazing insect all over the world! From then on, _everyone_ used 'tbsps' in their cookies, and it was all thanks to me!"

'WOW!"

Sanji rolled his eyes. "He's lying, idiot. A tbsp is just short-hand for a tablespoon."

"It is?"

"Yeah."

"…oh…what's a tablespoon?"

"It's a table, of course! With a spoon on it!" Usopp declared.

"Ohhhhhh."

The cook sighed as he switched the oven on so it could preheat. "Sure, whatever. Just…go sit over there or something."

It was then that Nami came walking in, a protesting Zoro in tow. "Okay Sanji-kun, how can we help?"

"Nami-saaaaaaan! You needn't force your lovely hands to work to help make these cookies! I'll be sure to make them extra-special, in honor of your amazing beauty!" Sanji cooed.

"Oh, that's alright Sanji-kun, it's been awhile since I've made anything anyway, I may as well give it a try." Nami said as she pulled hershort hair back into a ponytail.

"Ohhh, Nami-san is so beautiful when she's getting ready to do something!"

"Whatever, I'm out of here." Zoro grunted, making as if to head out the door.

"Marimo, if you're going to set foot in my kitchen _you_ can shut up and help." Sanji growled.

"Keeeh…"

"Awww, come on Zoro! It'll be fun!" Luffy chirped.

Zoro twitched. "I…"

Luffy stared up at him with wide eyes, clasping his hands together hopefully.

"No."

"WHAT?"

"I'm not helping, and that's final." Zoro declared, making as if to head out the door again.

Luffy immediately flew forward and attached himself to Zoro's leg, nearly sending Zoro toppling over.

"PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASSSSEEEE?"

Zoro's eye twitched as he attempted to shake Luffy off. "Get off of my leg!"

"PLEEEAAASSEEE? I'll let have the first…wait…no….I'll let you have the second…wait…ah…I'LL LET YOU HAVE THE FORTH COOKIE!"

"I don't _care_ about the cookies, get off of my leg!" Zoro snapped, now attempting to walk out of the door with Luffy dragging behind his leg like some sort of weird weight.

"…Don't…care…about…cookies?" Luffy repeated, eyes widening. He then buried his face into Zoro's pant leg and began sobbing.

Nami stared down at him for a moment before shaking her head. "Nice job, you made him cry!" She cried. "Those tear stains are hard to wash out!"

"Jerk! How could you do that to him?" Usopp exclaimed.

"Wow algaehead, that's low, even for you…" Sanji drawled.

Luffy continued to sob.

Zoro twitched, glancing down at his sobbing captain. No, he was not going to make those darn cookies! He was faking it and Zoro _knew it_, darn it!

But as he watched his captain's shoulders heave, he felt his resolve weakening.

"Gaaaah…fine, I'll help make the stupid cookies." Zoro growled.

Luffy immediately sprung to his feet, face devoid of any tears. "YAY! That's great! You can help Usopp and I with the table spoon!"

"I knew you were faking!" Zoro snarled as he was dragged over to the table.

"Yeah, yeah. Could you get us a table spoon?" Usopp asked, waving his hand in a dismissive manner.

The swordsman rolled his eyes, but proceeded to somehow pry Luffy's hand from his arm and walked over to the counter to grab a tablespoon. "Okay, is this it?"

"NO!" Luffy cried. "That's not a table spoon!"

Zoro blinked in confusion, then glanced back at the spoon. Yes, the little 'tbsp' sign was in inscribed in the cheap plastic, so he assumed this was what he was supposed to be getting. "Um…no, this is a table spoon."

"No it's not! It's not on the table!" Luffy exclaimed.

"It's a counter spoon!" Usopp declared.

"What? I…gaaaah!" Zoro twitched, hand balling into a fist around the plastic spoon as he resisted the urge to stab it into one of the younger pirate's eyes.

"Better you than me, Musclehead." Sanji drawled from his spot against the counter.

The swordsman twitched again before stomping over to the table, then slammed the little plastic spoon onto it. "There! NOW is it a friggen' table spoon?" He snarled.

Luffy and Usopp both stared at the table and the spoon placed upon it before grinning. "WOW, IT IS A TABLE SPOON! YOU'RE A GENIUS, ZORO!" Luffy exclaimed.

"YEAH! Of course, I could have done that too." Usopp said, folding his arms and nodding.

"Alright morons, now that we've managed to get a tablespoon, what now?" Zoro muttered, snatching up the instructions.

"Um….something about a 'tsp'? Is that another bug?"

"I remember when I was on the island of TSP I-"

"It's another spoon. Not a bug. And no, you have not seen one before, so shut up." Zoro growled. He never knew those attempts at cooking lessons with his sensei back in his dojo would actually come in handy. "It's a teaspoon."

"A teaspoon? Does that mean we need to make tea?" Luffy wondered aloud.

Zoro sighed. "Just…don't worry about it. Oi, Love Cook, what now?" He asked, glancing up at Sanji.

Sanji looked up from where he was conversing with Nami and shrugged. "Follow the instructions! Or is that too hard for someone with a tiny brain like yours to do?"

Zoro's eye twitched. "I _think_ I can handle some stupid instructions, thank you very much."

"Alright then! You do that." Sanji said with a dismissive wave as he turned back to Nami.

The swordsman made a face. _Stupid love cook with his stupid 'Nami-san'…what could they be up to, anyway?_

"Okay, so we need one tea spoon of baking soda…AH! Luffy! Not the whole box!" Usopp cried.

"But it's baking soda, so shouldn't we have lots of it so it'll bake really good?"

"No. We only need a tea spoon."

"Oh…alright…"

While Luffy and Usopp continued to add other ingredients such as salt and flour, Zoro pointedly ignored them and focused on measuring out a cup of sugar. He was becoming a bit frustrated, because he couldn't seem to get it all exactly at the line. There would always be a bit of sugar that went above or below, and when he removed that, somehow it'd get all uneven again.

Zoro twitched as he brushed a bit of the sugar back into the bag, getting several grains of it stuck to his hands.

Now it was below the line.

The swordsman scowled, adding a bit of sugar.

Now it was above the line once again.

After several more attempts at this, Zoro threw his hands up in defeat. "It's fine the way it is!" He declared, making as if to pour it into the bowl. He paused.

"…Luffy?"

"Yeah?"

"Why is the flour sitting in a wine glass?"

"Well, it said we needed a cup of flour."

"That means we need to fill the _measurement_ cup with flour, Luffy!" Usopp exclaimed, sounding exasperated. He poured the cup of flour into the bowl, then Zoro made as if to add the sugar.

"Wait! That's not enough!" Luffy cried.

Zoro made a face. "It's _fine_, Luffy."

"Yeah Luffy, it's fine…" Usopp muttered.

"But..but…"

"Trust me, that's plenty of sugar." Zoro growled. He didn't want to think about what could happen if they added any more sugar and Luffy consumed it.

"Alright…do we add the chocolate chips now?" Luffy asked, eyes widening with excitement.

"No, now we add the vanilla." Usopp said, grabbing the vial from the table.

Luffy blinked in confusion. "But I thought we were making chocolate chip cookies!"

"We _are_!" Zoro cried.

"But the vanilla will make it taste all vanilla-y!" The boy whined.

"No it won't!" Usopp exclaimed as he sloppily poured some vanilla into the tablespoon.

"But-"

"It's fine! Just add the stupid vanilla already!" Zoro snapped. He wanted to hurry up and get this stupid thing over with already.

Fortunately for him, the chocolate chips were added without much incident (unless you count Luffy trying to eat them) and they proceeded to mix the cookie dough together.

"I wanna stir it!" Luffy declared, grabbing a wooden stirring spoon. Zoro quickly snatched it from his hands.

"No."

Luffy pouted. "I wanna stir it!" He said again, reaching for the spoon.

"No, you'll get it everywhere!" Zoro growled, tugging back on the spoon.

"Lemme stir it!" Luffy cried, pulling harder.

"No!" Zoro ground out, tugging even _harder_ on the spoon.

Now, given the fact that Luffy was known to be able to punch through solid layers of bed rock and Zoro could lift entire buildings, it was really no surprise that the spoon broke in two with a loud SNAP!

The kitchen fell silent. Luffy and Zoro stared blankly at their respective pieces of spoon.

Nami twitched, stomping over to them. "You…IDIOTS!" She snarled, beating them both over the head. "Now we'll have to buy a _new_ one!"

"Sorry Nami…" Luffy muttered, rubbing his head. Zoro just rolled his eyes.

And so the two found themselves stirring the cookie dough with the broken ends of a spoon, then were forced to use those broken ends to place globs of goopy cookie dough onto a cookie sheet. Apparently Nami could have cared less if they got splinters in it.

At long last this task was done and the cookies were ready to be placed in the oven. Fortunately, Luffy was kept _far_ away from the oven as Nami placed the tray in the oven…but that didn't stop him from rushing over to it as soon as the task was complete so he could plaster his face against the window looking into the oven and stare at the cookies.

He stood there for a moment before pulling the oven door open. Nope, the cookies weren't done yet. The boy pouted and slammed the door shut, then waited about five seconds before opening the door again.

Nope, still not done.

Once again he closed the door, then after a few seconds tugged it open again.

No, still not done.

This went on like clockwork for awhile before Nami pointed out that the cookies were going to take longer than a few seconds to actually bake. Luffy, upon hearing this news, stared blankly at her.

"So?"

Sanji slapped his forehead before speaking him. "So the cookies are going to take awhile and you constantly opening and closing my oven isn't going to make them cook any faster!" He growled.

Luffy blinked. One could practically hear the gears in his head trying to work. Then it finally clicked.

"Oh."

The boy then spun around and made as if to open the door again. Usopp yelped, reaching out to stop him. "Oi, oi, LUFFY! No! If you open the door, the cookies will never get baked, and you'll release the demons that unbaked cookies create!"

Luffy's eyes widened. "Demons come from unbaked cookie dough?"

Usopp nodded solemnly. "That's why you're not supposed to eat cookie dough, or you may be possessed by one."

"Wow…I never knew…" Luffy gasped.

And so, the crisis of the cookies never being baked was averted and everyone wandered off to do…other things, I suppose.

Twenty minutes later, the cookies were done and had actually managed to cool, due to the fact that Nami had threatened to bake Luffy next if he didn't leave the cookies alone. So, Luffy had sat there, staring at the cookies with wide eyes while the minutes ticked by…

"Alright, they should be ready now." Sanji finally said.

"YOSH!" Luffy cheered, reaching over to snatch one up. Everyone else stared down cautiously at them for a moment.

They really didn't look all that appetizing. They had odd clumps of something no one could recognize poking out of them, and the bottoms were charred. How the cookies had become charred was anyone's guess, as the cookies _had_ been in there the proper amount of time…

The boy munched on the cookie, giving a satisfied "Mmmmm…hey, how come you guys aren't eating them? Come on, we all made them!" He exclaimed.

The rest of his crew stared at Luffy's expectant face for a moment before reluctantly all taking a cookie. They all glanced at each other and by silent agreement, bit into their cookies at the same time…

"YEECH!" Sanji exclaimed, immediately spitting it out. "What IS this? This isn't a cookie! It's some kind of abomination!"

Nami spat hers out as well. "ICK! Didn't you follow the recipe?"

Usopp coughed and sputtered, making a face. "I swear we did…"

Zoro forced himself to swallow the charred bite of cookie with a grimace. "Luffy…you didn't…add anything, did you?"

Luffy blinked. "Huh? Yeah, I added some meat because I thought it'd taste good, why?"

Nami's eyes narrowed. "You….IDIOT! Meat is _not_ something you put in cookies!" She bopped the boy over the head. "See _ours_? They don't have meat in them!" She gestured to another plate, which was piled with a batch of perfect chocolate chip cookies.

Usopp stared at the plate for a moment, confusion etched on his face. "Wha? Where'd those come from?"

"While you three fooled around, Nami-san and I made wonderful cookies of love!" Sanji explained, a lilting tone in his voice.

Nami rolled her eyes, snatching a few cookies from the plate and handing them out. "Try them. Unlike you guys, _we_ followed the recipe."

Usopp took one, then took a bite. His eyes lit up. "Wow! These are great!"

"Mmmm!" Luffy hummed as he grabbed several more from the plate and popped them in his mouth.

"Not bad…" Zoro scowled, unwilling to admit Sanji was actually capable of anything worthwhile.

"See? _Ours _turned out good because we followed the recipe!" Nami said pointedly as she bopped Luffy on the head, whom gave a yelp of pain and dropped the cookies he had snatched up back onto the plate.

The boy pouted, rubbing his head. "But I didn't _care_ if they came out good or not!" He exclaimed.

Nami blinked in confusion. "But I thought you said you were hungry?"

"Well, I sorta was…but I could have just had _Sanji_ make them." Luffy pointed out, gesturing to the cook. "The point was that I wanted to make something with _you_ guys." He said with a smile.

Usopp frowned. "Wait, wait…so…it wasn't about the cookies? You just wanted to spend time with us?"

"I certainly didn't mind spending extra time baking cookies of love and being close to Nami-san!" Sanji cooed. Nami proceeded to bash him over the head in an orderly fashion.

Luffy laughed out loud. "Yeah…I feel kinda bad that I messed up the cookies, though…sorry guys." He said, scratching his head sheepishly.

Zoro frowned,watching the boy's face fall slightly. He then snatched another one of the messed up cookies and took a tentive bite, somehow managing to keep a straight face. "I like these cookies better." He declared.

His captain blinked, looking a bit surprised. "You do?"

The swordsman nodded, taking another bite. "I guess making them wasn't so bad." He muttered.

Usopp watched Zoro chew on the cookie, then glanced back at Luffy and chuckled. "Well, they do remind me of that one time on the Isle of Chippe where I had to make cookies for the goblins…" He said, snatching up another one.

Nami sighed, picking up a cookie and staring at it. "I…guess they aren't _so_ bad…next time you guys better let me help, though."

Sanji snorted, picking up another cookie. "Yeah, really. You say you want to spend time with us and then you won't even let Nami-san and I help?"

The crew continued to chat in the kitchen, somehow managing to whittle down the pile of disgusting cookies as they stayed longer. As usual, chaos erupted, something about how Sanji was comparing one of the smaller chocolate chips to Zoro's brain, and Usopp was spinning of a lengthy tale about the Isle of Chippe to Luffy. Eventually, as evening crawled closer, Nami and Usopp left to do their own things and Luffy and Zoro were kicked out (quite literally) so Sanji could work on dinner.

Zoro sat out on the front deck next to Luffy, holding up the last of the disgusting cookies. Sanji had declared that they needed to get rid of them all before they could eat he and Nami-san's "Cookies of Love!", and Zoro had been charged with the task of eating the last one.

Luffy stared at the cookie as well, frowning. "You don't _have_ to eat it…"

The swordsman shrugged. He'd decided to take the whole matter of eating the cookies as some sort of bizarre endurance training anyway…besides, he really did like them. They tasted horrible…but the taste wasn't really the point.

"It's alright, I want to. They really aren't that bad." He said, popping the cookie into his mouth.

"Really? Should I make some more than?" Luffy asked, eyes wide.

"No. Please." Zoro growled through a mouthful of cookie.

Luffy pouted.

The swordsman glanced over at the boy and snorted, reaching over to pull the old straw hat off before ruffling his hair with one large hand. Luffy yelped, trying to bat the swordsman's hand away, but he was laughing.

"You're not the love cook. You're our captain, you have your own job and I think we'd all be much happier if you stuck with that." Zoro said.

Luffy chuckled, a wide grin falling into place on his face. "Alright."

Zoro smiled in spite of himself as he swallowed the cookie. Sure, it was digusting, but it wasn't really the cookie that mattered.

It was the person who made them that was important.

---

**-Owari-**


End file.
